675 



myself than in any of tlio. Euroix'aii standards. The wider ratios are 

 a concession to the eatinj;;' habits represented in the American dietaries. 

 I seriously question how far the concession is justiliable. Certainly the 

 (Jernum standards a^ree very closely with the teacliiiij^s of carefully 

 observed experience and with the results of the best experimental 

 inquiry regarding- the uutritiou of man, and they are fully in accord with 

 the latest and best investigation of tlu' nutrition of domestic animals, 

 which has been much more thoroughly studied than tlu' nutrition of 

 man. The only argument iu favor of large amounts of liicl material 

 and wide nutritive ratios in the American dietaries is that tliey repre- 

 sent the food of people who eat what they want and all they want; 

 that, in other words, the dietaries are natural ones. But the same is 

 true of the dietaries of well-to do people iu Euroi)e who have so nuudi 

 less of fuel material and yet are well nourished. The quantities of fat 

 iu the Euro[)ean dietaries range from 1 to 5 ouiKtes per day, wiiile in 

 the American the raugc is from 4 to 16 ounces. In the daily food of the 

 well-to-do professional men in Germany, who are amply nourished, the 

 <|uantity of fat is from 3 to 4,5 ouiu-es per day, while in the dietaries of 

 Americans in similar conditions of life it ranges from 5 to 7.5 ounces. 

 The (piantities of carbohydrates in the European dietaries range from 

 9 to 24 ounces, while in corresponding American dietaries they are 

 from 24 to GO ounces. People in this country eat what is set before 

 them, asking no questions for economy's sake, i>rovided it suits their 

 taste. We are a generation of fat and sugar eaters. The simplest 

 explanation of this fact is the abundance and toothsomeness of foods con- 

 taining fat and sugar. Without doubt a very considerable proportion 

 of fat in the American dietaries here examined should be deducted in 

 order to get at the amounts actually eaten. If any one doubts this let 

 him observe how much fat of meat is left with the butchers and how 

 much of that which is cooked and served ujion the table is left on the 

 plates, to be sold to the soap men or thi'own into the garbage. 



It may be urged that people in our Northern States need a larger 

 amount of fuel in their food on account of our rigorous winters. To 

 this there are three objections. The actual difference in tem])erature 

 between those regions for which the European estimates are made and 

 the northern part of the United States is not great. Even if our winters 

 are slightly colder, we sj^end our time in well-warmed houses and are 

 warmly clad, so that the actual difference in exposure is far less than 

 the difference in temperature. And finally, the differences in demand 

 for food fuel for warming the body in regions of different temperatures 

 are not so large as is often supposed. 



Summary. — The American dietaries here reported contain much larger 

 proportions of fuel material than the best evidence implies to be appro- 

 priate. This one-sidedness is manifested in the large quantities of fat 

 and in the wide nutritive ratios. Allowing that the food consumption 

 here exhibited is approximately representative of that of people in the 

 United States generally, our uational dietary is decidedly out of balance. 



